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Introduction: Staying on the Well-Lit Path 0:00 Hello, men, and good morning. And thank you for joining us on the global livestream at Everyman. Thank you for being a part of the, the Everyman movement. My name is Jason Park. I'm 1 of the teaching pastors here. And0:11 fortunately for me, Kenny is away, doing the Lord's work, and I get the opportunity and really the the the joy of getting to hang out with you this morning. As we0:23 continue in our study titled where is the light or where the light is. This is our 3rd installment. Last week, pastor Kenny, he started off with a story about a hiker0:36 who was out on a hike. And as a result of decisions that they made, they found themselves to be lost and experienced great anxiety and fear because they didn't know where they were0:47 going and they weren't had the where they didn't have the wherewithal to to know how to get back to to where they're supposed to be. You have probably at some point in your life been physically lost,0:59 did not know how you got to where you were, and were afraid that you couldn't get back to where you were supposed to be. And that is not the design for our life. God's design for our life1:11 and our solution is for us to be on a a well lit path for us to not be in the dark, but for us to be in the light. And that that well lit path guides us back to1:23 life, back to our true life, back to the the most the best life that we could possibly live. And that is to provide us with with the confidence within that1:35 light. Because when we know we where we are, we know where we're going, we are at peace. The opposite is true as well. When we don't know where we are, we don't know where we're going, and we certainly don't know how to1:46 get back to where we're supposed to be. There's tremendous fear in that. In our 1st installment of our study where the light is, the 1st week we learned that being in the light is1:58 understanding the character of God. Last week, we talked about being in the light is us having a strong relationship with God's word. This week, we're talking about being in2:10 the light is us having strong relationships specifically with the men in our life. Hopefully, by now, you've downloaded the notes. If you haven't, I highly encourage you to download2:22 them from the Facebook page or the every man website so that you have something to kinda capture what we're talking about, but also just to kinda journal with where you're at in your life and provide you with2:33 some own personal insight and hopefully something you can draw from at a later date. The theme passage that we've referenced all 3 weeks is Jesus from John chapter 82:45 verse 12, and it reads, whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. That is from the New International Version. The2:57 new American standard version says that whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light that leads to life. Jesus is saying that when you follow me,3:09 when you remain close to me, when you have a a relationship with me that you won't experience the fear of being in the dark and the anxiety of being lost that you will3:21 experience peace because you will know where you are and you will know where you are going. And don't we all want to experience that peace? Don't we all want to experience a peace that I'm3:33 exactly where I'm supposed to be and I know where I am and I know where I'm going. The 1st passage in this week's study that will references from David, and it's3:45 from Psalm 56 12 to 13. And this is very much a personal conversation between David and God. And here's what it3:56 reads. I am under vows to you, my God. I will present my thank offerings to you, for you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling that4:08 I may walk before God in the light of life. What I love about the words of David is they are so personal. If you look at this4:20 chapter from Psalm 56 and you look at other Psalms, they're they're very similar. That in in this particular passage, David begins the chapter with being under4:32 stress and and and difficulties, and he transitions into asking for deliverance. And now he is praising God for being delivered, but his words are very specific4:44 to himself. This is a this is a personal conversation between him and God. And if I just read that again and kind of highlight those personal pronouns, once again, David4:56 says, I am under vows to you, my God. I will present my thank offerings to you for you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling5:08 that I may walk before God in the life. Once again, David's words are very personal. And if we just kinda break down that passage very briefly,5:20 I have for you 4 fill ins to go along with that passage. 1st of all, there is very much a personal rescue. David says, you have delivered5:32 me. He didn't say you delivered us. He said you have delivered me specifically. David could see that this was a very personal direct thing that happened to him. So5:44 1st, there's a personal rescue. Secondly, there's personal gratitude. David says, I will present my thank offerings to you. I will present my thank offerings to you5:56 because this is a personal thing that happened to me. 3rd, there's a personal commitment. David says, I am under vows to you. Depending upon the translation6:08 in your Bible, it might look a little bit different. But David is saying his I owe you something as a result of you've given me as a result of me asking. It's this this personal6:20 commitment. And then finally, there's a personal future. There's a personal future that has a direct impact on David's life, and he says that I may walk in the light. 1 of the most6:32 powerful things for us to truly appreciate in our life is we have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, with the son of God. It is very6:43 personal that he died for my sins. To think of Jesus for dying for people's sins is is very powerful. To think of him dying for our sins is so powerful. But for us to6:55 realize when we look up at the cross and we see it was supposed to be me up there and not him. It's as if Jesus didn't die 1 time. He died7:07 an infinite number of times. He died for each 1 of us individually. And when we can appreciate that, I think it really allows us to see clearly that this is aPersonal Rescue: A 'Want To' Relationship 7:19 very personal thing. We were designed to have a personal relationship with Jesus. 2nd Corinthians 5 15 reads, and he died for all, that those who should7:31 live no longer live for themselves, but for him who died for them and was raised again. Now if we were to tweak that passage just a little bit and for us to just7:43 include ourselves and what I did was I took out the all and those, and I just made the me and I and myself, and it reads like this now. And he died for me,7:55 that I who live should no longer live for myself, but before him who died for me and was raised from the dead. When I can appreciate my personal relationship8:07 with Jesus, when I can personalize that he died for me, and I have personal rescue and personal gratitude and commitment and future, it allows me to have the right perspective on8:19 what it means to follow Christ and to to remain close to him and gives me the reason why I want to remain in the light. Gives me the reason why I8:31 want to remain in a place that I know where I am and I know where I'm going. The big idea in your next fill in here is for us to to realize in this being in the8:42 light is living in god's life is a want to and not a have to. I live in God's life because I want to. I don't live in8:54 God's life because I have to. I want to because of what has personally happened to me. That is what has happened to me has happened to me. Personally, it's been directed at me, and I9:06 have this this personal relationship with God. That's why I wanna be in the light because of what it means to me and what it means to me and it means to the people that are around me. And9:18 that's what we're talking about today is the people that are around us, the people that are around us. If you're looking at your handout, the next topic it says, where the light is is God's men.God's Men: Choose Your Squad Wisely 9:30 God's light is in God's men. And specifically to us, we're talking about the people that you and I do life with. That's where we have the greatest possibility of seeing the light is9:43 amidst the people that that we do life with. My wife would refer to her close friends as her squad, the people that she hangs around, the people that are there for her, the people that she is9:54 there for. This is the type of relationship we're talking about. And what I want all of us to do today is I want us to take stock in the relationships in our life and10:06 hopefully to affirm that we have the right type of relationships, but at the same time, for us to protect ourselves from relationships that aren't pushing us into the light. They're not helping us remain in the light,10:18 but potentially be drawing us from the light, that they're contributing negative behaviors in our life. So we wanna think about God's men and the10:30 God's men that are in our life. Our next passage in 2nd Corinthians 6 14 to 18 reads, do not become partners with those who reject God. How can you10:42 make a partnership out of right and wrong? That is not a partnership. That's war. Is light best friend with dark? Does Christ go10:53 strolling with the devil? Do trust and mistrust hold hands? Who would think of setting up pagan idols in God's holy temple? But that is exactly who we are. Each of us a temple11:05 in whom God lived. God himself put it this way. I'll live in them, move in them. I'll be their God, and they will be my people. So leave the corruption and11:17 compromise. Leave it for good, says God. Don't link up with those who pollute you. I want you all to myself. I'll be a father to you. You'll be sons and daughters11:29 to me. Paul is telling the people in Corinth who they should be close to, who they should be partners with as it described in the message version, who11:41 should be in their squad. And that's what our opportunity is here is to take stock of the people that are in our life. We need to make sure that we're surrounded right by the right relationships and11:53 specifically the right men in our life. And we wanted to know who these what these men look like so that we can know who they are and at the same time know the men that aren't contributing positive things12:05 to our life. So what types of men do we need in our life? Your next fill in here is I need men who accepted Christ. I need men who have accepted12:17 Christ. Verse 14 reads, don't become partners with those who reject God. How can you make partners out of right and wrong? That's not a partnership, That's war.12:29 Is light's best friend with dark? I need to be around guys who've accepted Christ because if they've accepted Christ, they've accepted their true12:41 identity. They know who they are. They know where they are headed. Along with that acceptance of Christ and that acknowledgment of their true identity, they know that they've been appointed by12:52 Christ. They know that they have the authority of Christ. But they also know there's a responsibility that goes along with that. If I'm gonna hang out with people, I wanna hang out with people that know13:04 where they're going and know how to get there. If you're just somebody that I know is going to get me lost and is gonna take me off the path that I'm trying to stay on, I should not want to13:16 be around you. I wanna be around those people that that know their identity, know who they are, know where they are going. Now just briefly, I wanna reference this passage because if we're not13:28 careful, we hear words say, don't be you you we hear the words to suggest don't be friends with nonbelievers. That's not what Paul is saying here. Depending upon your translation, I read from the13:40 message version, perhaps your says don't be bound together or don't be yoked together. I think the 1st words I ever heard from the King James version of this passion says, don't be unequally13:52 yoked. There's this picture from the old testament that you're taking 2 things and you're putting them together, but they have totally different goals, completely contradictory in their14:04 goals in life. It's as if 1 wants to go this way and 1 go wants to go that way, but we are gonna put them together. We were designed to be friends with everybody, but we were designed to have biblical14:15 relationships with everybody. With God's glory in mind, Paul is writing to the church in Corinth. Paul was going around and making friends with people who are not believers so they would accept Christ. Jesus said in14:27 himself, he didn't come here to hang out with people that were well. He came here to hang out with people that were sick. Right? So we should have relationships with nonbelievers, but it's but it's biblical14:38 relationships. You know, when it's Christ centered and it's a biblical relationship, there's 2 types of groups. There's believers and there's nonbelievers. So we evangelize to the non believers, and we edify14:50 and we lift up and protect the believers. So we're to be friends with everybody. But right now, we're talking about once again our squad. We're talking about the people that we hang out with. Right? And then the people15:01 that that we need to to be around. Acts 8 14 to 17 says when the apostles in Jerusalem received the report that Samaria had accepted God's message,15:13 they sent Peter and John down to pray for them to receive the Holy Spirit. Up to this point, they had only been baptized in the name of the master Jesus. The Holy Spirit hadn't yet15:24 fallen on them, then the apostles laid hands on them and they did receive the Holy Spirit. So the apostles go into Samaria and talk to people that don't have relationships15:37 with Christ, and they establish these relationships and the word gets back to Peter and John. So we have new believers. New believers need to be around believers. And so that's who they send to come15:49 and to continue to coach them up. That's what they needed. They needed to be around other people who accepted Christ because they had accepted Christ. Those are the types of16:01 guys that we need to be around, that they appreciate their real identity. Secondly, the type of man that I'm looking for, that we are looking for, I need a man who's gonna do advance my walk.16:13 If I wanna be better, I need to be hanging out with people that are better than me. I've shared with you multiple stories and of, of my fun of of riding a bike and16:25 a mountain bike and a road bike. And so tonight, I'm gonna go for a ride. It's a typical night for me to go for a ride. I'm gonna meet up with a a guy that I ride with on a regular basis. And for all the time that I've16:35 known him and ridden with him, he's always been stronger than me. No matter how strong I get, he's always stronger than me. And thanks to him, he reminds me about once every 11 minutes while we're riding. You can16:47 appreciate that, some of you. But I get better by riding with him because he's better than me. As men, if we wanna get better, we need to hang out16:59 with men that are better than us. If we wanna have a stronger walk with Christ, we hang out with men who have more established relationship with Christ. If we wanna hang, if we wanna be a goodMen Who Advance, Acknowledge, and Add Health 17:11 husband, we hang out with men who are great husbands. We want people that advance us, that advance us in our walk and advances in our faith. Continuing on in that Corinthians17:22 passage in verse 15, it says, does Christ go strolling with the devil? Does do trust and mistrust hold hands? Who would think of setting up pagan idols in God's holy temple?17:35 Paul is saying that if you hang around with people that are not advancing you, they are pulling you back. We, in this study, are learning how we can remain in the light. When17:47 we hang out with people that don't advance our walk, they're hurting our walk. We want people to push us in the light. We want people to hold us into the light. We don't want people that that draw us from the light, that17:59 that pull us out of the light as they're a result of of not advancing our walk, but but but but preventing us from walking the walk that we are called to walk. 2nd Timothy 218:10 22 says, run away from childish indulgence, run after mature righteousness, faith, love, peace, joining those who are in honest and serious prayer18:23 before God. The way that we can run away from childless indulgence is to make sure that we are with guys that are pulling us out of those situation, that are pulling us away18:34 from wickedness and pushing us into righteousness. Because in this passage, Paul says they are contradict their opposites. You cannot18:46 blend. You cannot mix righteousness when with wickedness. So I need a man who's going to advance my walk. Next, I need a man who acknowledges god's presence,18:59 who acknowledges God's presence. When we are with men who acknowledge God's presence as a result of their accepting Christ, like I like I said,19:10 they've accepted that. They've accepted Christ. They've accepted their identity, their authority, and their responsibility. But this idea of accepting19:22 the presence of Christ, they understand that the presence of Christ is in us. That as a result of our our relationship with Jesus and him leaving here, he left behind the 3rd person, the holy19:34 trinity. That's the holy spirit that we are indwelled in the holy spirit. In the NIV, this passage reads that we are the temple of the living God. The living God19:46 resides in us as a result of this this new covenant that we have with Jesus Christ. And when we understand that he resides in us, that we are the church, that19:58 we are the people, that we are the hands and feet of Jesus. And when I surround myself with guys who acknowledge that and remind me of that, Once again, it reminds me of my my identity and my responsibility.20:11 Verse 16 reads, but that is exactly what we are. Each of us a temple of whom or in whom God lives. God himself put it this way,20:24 move in them, I'll be their God, and they'll be my people. When we acknowledge God's presence, it says, he will live in us and he will move in us. We need to be20:36 around guys that acknowledge that that fact that that he is present in us. 1st Corinthians 6 19 to 20 says, or did you didn't you realize that20:48 your body is a sacred place, the place of the holy spirit? Don't you see that you can't live however you please squandering what god paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is20:59 not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you. God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your21:11 body. And all of our parts should be carrying out the holy stacks and and the gifts of the holy spirit that are residing in us, and that happens when we surround ourselves with21:23 guys that acknowledge that. Next, I need men who add spiritual health. I need men that that make me more spiritually healthy and spiritually strong. Verse21:35 17 says, so leave corruption and compromise. Leave it for good, says God. Don't link up with those who pollute you. He is saying, don't blend21:47 things that are healthy in your life with things that are toxic in your life. Some of you woke up this morning and pretty soon after, you did something that contributed to the health of your21:59 life. Maybe you took vitamins. Maybe you you, you went to the gym. You did something that's contributing to you living a healthier life, for you being more22:10 productive in in protecting your health. The opposite imagine that you woke up today and you did something that that did the opposite. You did something that made you weaker. You did something that that didn't make you22:22 that you make you stronger. It's something that that made you unhealthy. When we allow ourselves to blend things in our life, healthy with unhealthy, with righteous and22:33 unrighteous, with with with unhealthy things and wicked things that Paul is saying here, it's only making things worse, and it's only contributing to us being pulled from the light. James22:45 1 15 reminds us that sin gives birth to death. Sin gets gives birth to death. And that disease that we allow22:57 to to continue to pollute us, it goes even much further out than us. The the blast radius is much much bigger. It doesn't just in fact, us is as if this disease23:09 is contagious and it spreads. So we need to protect ourselves from from having people around us, right, that that take away spiritual health, that causes to make23:20 decisions that aren't good ones, but surround ourselves with guys that add to our spiritual health. John 15 19 says, if you belong to the world, it would love you as its own. As it23:32 is as it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. We were chosen out of the world. We were we were designed to to23:44 live out our faith, to know where we are, to be in the life, and we should be around guys that are pushing us into the light by way of adding to our spiritual health.24:01 Verse 18, it says, I want you all for myself. I'll be a father to you. You'll be my sons and daughters. When I kind of ponder this point is I wanna be around24:14 men who act like family. You know, in in law enforcement, there's there's some some amazing connection that happens between other police officers.24:26 And when we are out there, we're always mindful of where our partners are because they're family. We're connected to them, in in a legal way, but also a very emotional and very personal24:38 way. There has been times in in my life, when I was, doing kind of the traditional types of law enforcement where I had to get on the radio and I had to ask for help24:49 because the nature of the situation was overwhelming and I couldn't solve it. And there was a handful of times where these were very dangerous situations and I would get on the radio and I would call for help.25:01 And eventually, you'd hear the help coming. You knew that there were people out there that dropped everything in front of them and they started heading your way. And in25:13 those situations, you could hear the sirens coming and you knew that help was on the way. You knew that your family was coming to help you because you asked. And they didn't even question why. We25:25 need people in our life that when we get on the radio and say, hey man, I need some help. That they drop everything that they're doing and they come to help us and they do that because they're connected to us. We are25:36 connected as a result of us being brothers and sisters in Christ. That the same blood who who the same blood that that was in Christ's veins is in ours. There's a there's a25:48 connection to us. And when we need help, they come and they help us. Hebrews 2 10 to 11 says, In bringing many sons and daughters to glory was fitting that God for whom26:00 and through whom everything exists should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. Both the ones who make people holy and those who are made holy26:12 are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. We are brothers and sisters in Christ. It is part of our identity, and we26:24 are called to protect the family of God. We are called to protect 1 another. And once again, I need to be around men who act like family to me. So26:36 our closing passage is in 1st Samuel 23 15 to 18, And the bolded section just above that says men in the light help us fight the good fight. This26:47 is as amazing illustration of the relationship between David and Jonathan, 1 of the most powerful relationships in all the Bible. Once again, 1st Samuel26:59 23 15 to 18 reads this, while David was at Haresh in the desert of Ziph, he learned that Saul had come out to take his life. And Saul's son,27:12 Jonathan, went to David at Haresh and helped him find strength in God. Don't be afraid, he said. My father, Saul, will not lay a hand on you. You will be a king over Israel,27:24 and I will be 2nd to you. Even my father, Saul, knows this. The 2 of them made a covenant before the Lord. Then Jonathan went home but David27:36 remained in Haresh. It says the 2 of them made a covenant. They made a covenant because of who they were and the God that they served. And that superseded27:47 everything else in this particular instance. It superseded Jonathan's responsibility and relationship with his own father. David and Jonathan knew who they were.Brothers in the Light: David and Jonathan 27:59 They knew where they were going, and they knew that they were designed like you and I to be bonded by brothers, bonded as brothers. I hope today28:12 that I've affirmed some of the relationships that you have in your life, but I hope you've realized now that there's other relationships that you need, people that are that are gonna advance your faith, people that are28:23 that are gonna know who they are, that they know who what their identity is, and and so that you can be around people that help you know where you are, to help you know where28:35 you're going, that you can live the light of life and the peace that goes along with that. Would you pray for me? Dear heavenly father, we thank you for your word. We thank you that28:46 is is a light to our path, Lord, that it clarifies the direction that we are going. I'm prayerful for the men that feel as if they're just a little bit lost, Lord. I pray that as a result of them appreciating and28:58 understanding your character, with them establishing a relationship with your word, and then establishing strong relationship with godly men in their life that they will be able to be in the light and to remain in29:10 the light, Lord, because you are in the light. We thank you, Lord, and we love you. And all God's men said, amen. Thanks for joining us today, and have a great day.In this video 0:00 Introduction: Staying on the Well-Lit Path7:18 Personal Rescue: A 'Want To' Relationship9:30 God's Men: Choose Your Squad Wisely17:00 Men Who Advance, Acknowledge, and Add Health27:51 Brothers in the Light: David and Jonathan
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